10 thoughts as we hurtle towards another NHL trade deadline day

1. If you're going to trade for Ryan Kesler, you do so believing you can win a Cup in the next two years before his contract expires.

If you don't believe you can, you don't make that trade.

So - and this is just theoretically - perhaps the Leafs might be able to use some combination of Nazem Kadri, Jake Gardiner and something else to pry Kesler out of Vancouver, assuming he would waive his no-trade.

But to these eyes, other than a fluke run like the Hurricanes in '06, this Leaf team with the addition of Kesler and deletion of Kadri and Gardiner isn't yet built in such a way that you could win it all.

So you don't make that trade. Columbus would be a similar position, but they're trying anyways, although Kesler says he won't go there (could his feud with R.J. Umberger possibly be that nasty?).

Pittsburgh and Philly are trying. Detroit, maybe, but my goodness, if the Wings were to give up futures to get Kesler, that organization could really be flirting with setting itself back for years.

2. Mason Raymond, at $1 million per season, has surely given the Leafs bang for the buck.

With 17 goals already, Raymond would be delivering at one goal for every $58,823 he's been paid even if he doesn't score again this season.

If NHL goal-scoring leader Alex Ovechkin were delivering at an identical pace, he'd have 162 goals so far. Phil Kessel would have 92 goals.

David Clarkson? Well, so far he's scored once for every $1.125 million of salary he's earning. Not good.

So Raymond, although he has no physical dimension to his game and would be an unlikely candidate to be on the ice defending a lead when it matters, has surely delivered the offence for his paycheque.

So why has there been absolutely no effort to sign him to an extension?

The Leafs signed both Phil Kessel and Dion Phaneuf this season to avoid having them get to unrestricted free agency. They'd like to do the same with David Bolland, who hasn't played in month.

But not with Raymond.

Why? Well, simply because they like the way he plays without security in his back pocket. They like him on a one-year deal, and would be concerned that a longer term committment might bring out the old Raymond that Vancouver was disinclined to re-sign last summer.

3. Dave Nonis said he had contact with every GM in the league on Monday.

And nothin'.

4. L.A. could be facing a really tough choice. The Kings have won five straight coming out of the Olympic break, and are sniffing around a variety of potential offensive additions, from Tomas Vanek to Mike Cammalleri to Matt Moulson to Marian Gaborik.

But do they really want to give up youngster Tyler Toffoli to get such a player? That's a stiff cost, but possibly what you do to take a shot at another Cup.

The window isn't open forever. With 99 straight sellouts (regular season and playoffs) the Kings are doing as well at the gate as they ever have.

To keep doing that in L.A., however, you've got to win.

5. Youngster Darcy Kuemper is making this a very interesting trade deadline for Wild GM Chuck Fletcher.

Maybe Minny is still looking for a goalie, with veteran Nicklas Backstrom (abdominal injury) still out and Josh Harding iffy for the rest of the season with his multiple sclerosis issues.

Or maybe Kuemper's play means the Wild will just stay pat.

The 23-year-old has rattled off five straight wins and given up just six goals in those games. He's a former sixth rounder, not a blue chip first rounder, but he's 6-foot-5 and showing all the signs of being a No. 1 goalie.

So if you're the Wild, do you hope Backstrom returns soon, or do you bring in insurance in case Kuemper can't sustain the run.

Fletcher might have his choice of a long list that could include Martin Brodeur, Jaroslav Halak, Cam Ward or Tim Thomas.

Or stick with the kid.

6. Doesn't it seem if the Rangers really wanted to retain Ryan Callahan they'd have done it by now?

Suggestions are the gap is down to about $3 million, and that would be spread over six years. So far, GM Glen Sather hasn't wanted to budge above $6 million per, which is a lot for a 20-25 goal scorer.

Tough to play these kinds of games with your captain. Either you want him or you don't.

For what it's worth, Sather has made 52 deadline day trades as the boss in Manhattan in Edmonton, the most by any current GM.

7. There could be an unofficial Canadian sports record set tomorrow when Sportsnet brings in 24 bodies to deliver its deadline day coverage. Included this year are newcomers like Keith Primeau, Jose Theodore and Canadian national women's coach Kevin Dineen.

Should be a heckuva show. But will there be as many trades on the day as Sportsnet analysts? We shall see.

8. If the Leafs don't trade away their first round pick, that would make it four straight years the club has drafted in the first round.

The Leafs, notorious for trading high picks, haven't drafted that many times in the first round in a row since they went five straight years from 1998 to 2002.

9. Buffalo did fine on the Ryan Miller deal. Still, it's impressive that Blues GM Doug Armstrong could land the all-star goalie without giving up any of his best youngsters like Jake Allen, Vladimir Tarasenko, Jaden Schwartz or Dmitri Jaskin.

That said, giving up next year's first rounder as opposed to one this year is more expensive, as the 2015 draft is expected to be a deep one.

10. There were 17 trades on April 3, 2013, last year's trade deadline day.

The Blackhawks won the Cup, beating Boston. Oddly enough, those two teams combined to make one of those 17 trades, Maxime Sauve going to Chicago for former Mississauga junior Rob Flick.

Let's just say that deal didn't change the course of hockey history. Or hasn't yet.

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